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Dawn - 02:30 May 15, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Following the release of a $1.1 billion tranche for Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified Pakistan’s economic exposure to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as its most acute external vulnerability. In its staff report, the lender warned that “the war weighs on the near-term outlook as Pakistan is highly exposed to energy imports and remittances from the Gulf countries as well as to global financial conditions”. According to the report, 81 per cent of Pakistan’s fuel imports originate in the GCC region, while 55pc of remittances — equivalent to about nine percent of the GDP — flow from these economies. The IMF noted: “A significant disruption to the GCC economies and/or return of migrant workers could weigh on these flows, a major source of financing for consumption and the balance of payments”. According to the Fund, the Iran war’s impact has been formally embedded in Pakistan’s macroeconomic projections. Under the IMF’s baseline scenario, GDP growth is expected to slow b... -
Dawn - 02:23 May 15, 2026
• Most compromised passwords either begin or end with digits • Common symbols like ‘@’ and ‘.’ are heavily overused ISLAMABAD: An analysis of 231 million unique passwords leaked between 2023 and 2026 has revealed several alarming patterns, according to a report by cybersecurity company Kaspersky. Firstly, 68 per cent of modern passwords can be cracked within a day. Secondly, the vast majority of compromised passwords either begin or end with a digit — a common habit that makes them vulnerable to brute-force attacks. Thirdly, users often rely on positive or trending words in their passwords. For example, the use of the word “Skibidi” in analysed passwords increased 36-fold over the past few years, reflecting the rise of the internet trend. “In recent years, secure password rules have become a widely discussed topic. More and more services now require passwords that are at least 10 characters long, include an uppercase letter, and contain a number or symbol. Yet a comparative analysis of leaked passwords from r... -
Dawn - 18:59 May 14, 2026
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of direct involvement in military operations against his country during a Brics meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, Iranian state media reported. The spat comes a day after the UAE denied a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he visited the Gulf country during the Iran war, to which Araghchi already reacted by saying that “those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account”. “I didn’t name the UAE in my [Brics] statement for the sake of unity. But the truth is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against my country. When the attacks started, they didn’t even issue a condemnation,” state media quoted Araghchi as saying on Thursday, in response to comments made by the Emirati representative. Iranian state media did not specify what the Emirati representative said. According to the reports, Araghchi argued that neither US bases nor an alliance with Israel provided the UAE with secu... -
Dawn - 18:59 May 14, 2026
US President Donald Trump hailed “extremely positive” talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday, in remarks made at an opulent banquet in Beijing attended by top leaders and American business figures, including Elon Musk and Tim Cook. His trip to Beijing is the first by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries. The two leaders rounded off the first full day of a closely watched summit in the Chinese capital with the banquet in a red-carpeted dining room in the lavish Great Hall of the People, abutting Tiananmen Square. “There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever,” Trump told Xi after a ceremony that featured an honour guard and throngs of children waving flowers and flags at the Great Hall. Trump also said he had invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House on September 24. Live images streamed before the leaders arrived showed a jovial atmosphere, with s... -
Dawn - 18:47 May 14, 2026
ISLAMABAD, May 14: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said that the government had not contacted him or his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, regarding a constitutional amendment. His remarks came amid media reports about the government’s intention to have the 28th constitutional amendment passed by parliament. “President Zardari and I remain in contact with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, but the government has not contacted the PPP regarding any constitutional amendment,” the PPP chief said at a press conference after chairing the parliamentary party meeting at the Parliament House in Islamabad. Responding to questions, Bilawal said that without the PPP, the passage of constitutional amendments and the federal budget would not be possible. “The PPP’s role in the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments is evident to everyone. We did not allow the rights of the provinces to be reduced; instead, we expanded them. Through our amendments, Balochistan’s representation in the Senate increased,” he ad... -
Dawn - 18:20 May 14, 2026
France’s health minister said Thursday that 26 people in France identified as close contacts of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship had tested negative for the illness. Dutch authorities also confirmed that all people who arrived in the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship this week have tested negative. Twenty-six people are in hospital isolation in France, including 22 identified as close contacts of a Dutch woman on the MV Hondius that was at the centre of an international alert for the rare disease typically transmitted by rodents. French doctors are monitoring four others who were on the ship, while a fifth French passenger tested positive for hantavirus and is in serious condition in a French hospital. “As of today, all close contacts of a person who tested positive for hantavirus, present in France, have tested negative, without exception,” said Health Minister Stephanie Rist on X. Twenty-two of the individuals in France were on a flight from the Atlantic island of Saint He... -
Dawn - 17:57 May 14, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday said that IMF-mandated asset declarations of civil servants would be made publicly accessible in a redacted form to ensure both transparency and personal privacy. The declaration of government officials’ assets is required under IMF governance and corruption-related benchmarks. Establishment Division Secretary Nabeel Awan testified before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which ordered full investigations into two major scams involving the disappearance of over 400 kilogrammes of silver and a major portion of 2,000 bags of skimmed milk from the custody of Pakistan Customs. The meeting of the senate panel, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, took up the status of asset declarations by government servants, and Awan reported that the government had revised the Civil Servants Conduct Rules and was in the process of digitising the asset declaration system through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) platform. He said, “Declarations would be publicly access... -
Dawn - 17:02 May 14, 2026
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met in Beijing on Thursday for high-stakes talks, discussing the Iran war, Ukraine and economic cooperation. Away from the long list of complex agenda topics, here are five other highlights from day one of the summit: One-sided friendship? China’s President Xi Jinping (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands as they attend a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. — AFP Trump heaped praise on Xi as talks began at the cavernous Great Hall of the People, saying: “It’s an honour to be your friend.” “You and I have known each other for a long time… We’ve had a fantastic relationship, we’ve gotten along when there were difficulties, we worked it out,” Trump told Xi. “I would call you and you would call me.” Xi has in the past partially reciprocated Trump’s characterisation of their relationship, referring to a “personal friendship”. But on Thursday the Chinese leader stopped short of using that label, saying ins... -
Dawn - 16:38 May 14, 2026
The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said Pakistan’s relations with the United Arab Emirates remained unaffected by any external engagements the Gulf state may have, expressing confidence in the strength of bilateral ties. It said the relationship was based on mutual trust, adding that this sentiment was also shared in Abu Dhabi. “Pakistan – UAE relations are strong, brotherly, built on strong foundation. We have 2.2 million-strong diaspora in the UAE. We have traditionally been friendly and cooperative in all affairs. We have a trade close to $8 billion, said FO Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi during the weekly press briefing. He further said that there is “absolutely no question” of any negative aspersions with respect to relations between Islamabad and Abu Dhabi. Earlier in the day, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said that Pakistan’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates was “absolutely fine”. Several media outlets in recent days have reported that the Gulf country had begun a “large-scale e... -
Dawn - 16:02 May 14, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan raised $250 million equivalent through its inaugural Panda bond issuance in the Chinese capital market at an interest rate of 2.5 per cent, with a three-year maturity, according to Advisor to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad. In a social media post on X on Thursday, Schehzad said: “Pakistan has successfully completed its inaugural Panda bond issuance in China’s onshore capital market today, marking the country’s first-ever entry into the world’s second-largest and deepest capital market.” The inaugural Panda bond is a three-year fixed-rate instrument, making it Pakistan’s first-ever renminbi (RMB)-denominated sovereign issuance in China’s onshore capital market, he announced. “The landmark Panda bond issuance of RMB 1.75 billion (equivalent to $250 million) attracted overwhelming investor demand of over RMB 8.8bn (approximately $1.26bn), resulting in oversubscription of more than five times,” Schehzad wrote. Importantly, he said that the demand for the inaugural tranche alone exceeded... -
Dawn - 14:57 May 14, 2026
In a moment that turned an ordinary working day into an unforgettable act of heroism, 44-year-old railway employee Muhammad Liaqat Ali laid down his life while attempting to stop a suicide bomber near the sensitive Mankoor check post in Attock’s Jand-Kohat railway section. The quiet of the remote area was shattered when Liaqat, a gang mate of Pakistan Railways, confronted a suspicious man wearing an explosive vest who was reportedly moving toward a security installation near the Khushal Garh Bridge. What began as a brief exchange of words quickly escalated into a fatal encounter that ended in a powerful explosion, echoing across the surrounding locality and sending residents into panic. According to railway and local sources, Liaqat had already completed his duties earlier in the day and returned home after marking his attendance — another routine shift for a man who spent his life earning an honest living for his family. Within hours, that routine was replaced by an extraordinary act of bravery that cost him... -
Dawn - 14:27 May 14, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Aleema Khan, sister of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan, filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday, challenging his prolonged solitary confinement at Central Jail Adiala, Rawalpindi, terming it illegal and a violation of fundamental rights. Imran — imprisoned since Aug 5, 2023, for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts — is serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail in the £190m case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case. The petition, filed through Barrister Salman Safdar and Salman Akram Raja, names the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Adiala jail, the inspector general of prisons, Punjab, chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the medical superintendent of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), and the state as respondents. The petitioner argued that no court has sentenced the 74-year-old former prime minister to solitary confinement in either the Al-Qadir T... -
Dawn - 14:14 May 14, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Meetings with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan remained suspended on Thursday as party leaders called for the implementation of the court’s decision allowing the meeting. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowed Imran Khan to have twice-a-week meetings — on Tuesdays and Thursdays — with his family, lawyers and other associates. Despite the order, the former premier has been restricted from meeting visitors for several months. The party secretary general had also submitted a list of six party leaders to the jail authorities in line with court orders. The list included Syed Raza Gillani, Tahir Iqbal, Mian Fayyaz Hussain, Qazi Ahmad Akbar, Mehwish Janjua and Abdul Hakeem Zareen. All party leaders included in the list arrived at Adiala jail on Thursday for a meeting with the PTI founder, but were not allowed to meet him. Talking to Dawn, Iqbal said he and other leaders arrived at 2pm and were told by the jail administration to wait. “We were told that we would be allowed to conduct the meeting if appr... -
Dawn - 12:33 May 14, 2026
The Army Rocket Force Command conducted the successful test fire of the indigenously developed Fatah-IV ground-launched cruise missile on Thursday, the military’s media affairs wing said. A statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations said that the weapon system was “equipped with advanced avionics and state-of-the-art navigational aids” and “capable of engaging long-range targets with high precision”. “The training fire was conducted to enhance operational efficiency of the troops and validate technical parameters of various sub-systems incorporated for improved accuracy and enhanced survivability,” it added. According to the statement, senior officers of the Pakistan Army Rocket Force Command, along with scientists and engineers of the missile’s developing agency, were present during the training fire. It said that President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf and Chie... -
Dawn - 11:52 May 14, 2026
QUETTA: The vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor of the University of Gwadar, who had left Balochistan’s port city for Quetta, have gone missing, officials told Dawn on Thursday. Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Razzaq Sabir and Pro-Vice Chancellor Syed Manzoor Ahmed have been missing for the past 24 hours, the officials said on Thursday afternoon. Babar Yousafzai, an aide at the Balochistan Home Department, said Dr Sabir and Ahmed had left for Quetta along with a driver and another varsity employee on Wednesday morning. “But they have not reached Quetta so far,” he added. The official further said the travellers’ mobile phones had been switched off after they reached Mastung. “All efforts are under way to trace the vice chancellor, pro-vice chancellor and two others traveling them,” Yousafzai said. Meanwhile, police officials in Mastung told Dawn that the possibility of kidnapping could not be ruled out. A senior police official also said that there had been no communication with Dr Sabir and Ahmed since they rea... -
Dawn - 11:27 May 14, 2026
The Sindh government will fully open the Shahrah-i-Bhutto Expressway in Karachi to the public by the end of May, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon said on Thursday. Shahrah-i-Bhutto Expressway is a 39-kilometre high-speed corridor in Karachi that was noted to be 88.2 per cent complete as of March. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had earlier this year directed the local government department to ensure that the expressway was fully operational by April 2026. Announcing the upcoming completion of the project at a press conference in Karachi, Memon called the opening of the expressway “very good news” for Karachiites, asserting that they would be saving “at least an hour” coming into the city. “We believe it will be a game changer in terms of traffic,” he said, as well as a big step for people’s convenience. After having started to be opened in phases, he said, Shahrah-i-Bhutto will now directly connect to the M-9 highway by the end of the month, saving travel time for those heading out of Karachi. Ad... -
Dawn - 10:08 May 14, 2026
The Ministry of Finance said on Thursday that a media report claiming Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had been handed the budget-making process was “misleading” and “factually incorrect”. The clarification came after a report published by The Express Tribune said the government had “handed over the responsibility of making the new budget to Dar after it found the initial work below par”. According to the report, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had constituted a Dar-led committee to “review, analyse and present tax policy proposals” formulated by the Tax Policy Office working under the Finance Division. Citing a notification, it added: “With the formation of the committee, the final responsibility to finalise roughly Rs215 billion to Rs230bn in new taxes and to grant any tax relief has been handed over to Dar.” Moreover, the report said, the responsibility for finalising the enforcement measures had been handed over to a committee led by Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema. It men... -
Dawn - 10:00 May 14, 2026
They come in blister packs of 10 like any normal painkiller and you can buy them easily in roadside kiosks and street pharmacies across west Africa. Millions of tapentadol tablets from India are helping drive a deadly opioid epidemic ravaging the region, with officials and researchers telling AFP that they are also being added to the “zombie drug” kush. The cheap pills are so strong that no regulatory authority in the world has approved them. Yet an AFP investigation found Indian pharmaceutical firms were flooding west Africa with the pills despite New Delhi vowing to crack down on the trade. Some shipments were even labelled “Harmless Medicines for Human Consumption”. Customs records show millions of dollars’ worth of the high-strength synthetic opioid being shipped from India every month to Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana, where even low doses of the drug are not permitted. With opioids now heavily regulated in wealthier nations after being linked to one million deaths in the United States alone, some manuf... -
Dawn - 09:40 May 14, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday just as Pakistan had emerged as a nuclear power, efforts were now needed to turn it into an economic power. The premier expressed these views while addressing a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, where he also spoke about May 28. On May 28, 1998, Pakistan joined the ranks of nuclear powers after atomic tests in the hills of Chagai, Balochistan. In his address, PM Shehbaz said on that day, Pakistan gained a power that would remain a “defensive asset” of the country. “It is our national narrative that this asset is for defence, not offence. And this is the reason that the world knows Pakistan as a responsible nuclear power,” he added. The premier then paid tribute to all “heroes” who contributed to efforts for making Pakistan a nuclear power, particularly mentioning late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. “[The initiative’s] founder was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and my leader, Nawaz Sharif, saw it to completion... -
Dawn - 09:39 May 14, 2026
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on Thursday said that Pakistan’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates was “absolutely fine”. Chaudhry made the remarks while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly in response to concerns raised by lawmakers regarding the deportation of Pakistanis from the Gulf country. Several media outlets in recent days have reported that the Gulf country had begun a “large-scale expulsion” of Pakistani workers, particularly Shia workers, signalling a shift in Pakistan-UAE ties. The Interior Ministry has denied the claims. “I don’t know why people are intent on building a narrative against a country; that people from there are being deported based on sectarian differences,” the state minister said on Thursday. “There is no such thing. The government has categorically denied this. Our ties with the UAE are absolutely fine,” he said. He went on to say that for this month, the highest amount of remittances was received from Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE. “We sho...
10418 items